Fear, Love, Family & Survival
by darylisperfection
Summary: When Lilly has the responsibility of looking after 6 year old niece, Jess, in the apocalypse, will she allow the new group she stumbles upon help them? Can she even begin to allow someone else to take the reins and admit she could do with the help of more people? As the story continues, can she deal with the pain that she'll go through? I'm bad at summaries, please give it a read:)
1. Chapter 1

_Hey guys, this is my first FanFiction ever and also my first The Walking Dead one. It will be based on the show, starting at the beginning of Series 2. I'm going to attempt to write in third person and I have an annoying tendency to change tenses without realising so I will sort that out in a little while. Writing in third person is something that is new to me, so I apologise in advance for any mistakes you might find. I will go through my chapters often and correct any mistakes. I hope you enjoy my story and give it a chance. Please don't be shy if you want to review! Your ideas and responses are important to me :) There will be violence and swearing as viewers of the show and other Walking Dead FanFiction readers may be aware of. There may be other themes throughout the story and some word-for-word parts from some episodes. Enjoy Chapter 1, and please let me know what you think:)_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own any of the original story or characters or anything you may recognise from the show._

* * *

_Chapter 1: The Highway._

Running. That's all Lilly can remember doing for the past couple of months. Running and trying to survive, which has been extremely hard for her. All her life, she had been relying on the people around her to raise her well and keep her safe. But now that was her job, to keep herself and people around her safe. Her mother and father were both bitten at the very beginning of the epidemic, and Lilly tried to be brave that day, but she just couldn't do it.

**_Lilly clasped her mother's hand, which was shivering and moist. _**

**_"Keep your eyes open, you've got to! You can't leave now, you just can't!" Lilly wept to her mother, lying on the mattress. _**

**_"We've got...no time left to...fix it..." their mother managed to get out. "It's over...for me."_**

**_Lilly shook her head through the tears. "Don't give up now. What if I went and got Doctor Simmons?"_**

**_"I doubt there's...anything he could do...anyway." Lilly's mother turned her head slowly to look at Jessica. Jess was dropped off by Lilly's brother-in-law at the house, as he went to see how her sister was doing at the hospital. Her little niece adored her and Lilly loved Jess too. Her dad didn't come back, and so Jess became Lilly's responsibility. Jess was scared, as she hid behind the door, occasionally peeking out. Lilly's mom tried to smile but Lilly thought it was more terrifying than comforting._**

**_"Look after...her, Lilly." Then her eyelids fluttered shut and her head fell to the side._**

**_Lilly should have been brave and gotten up and hugged her niece. She should have conjured up a plan and decided their next move. However, she found herself doing none of that. She just cradled her mother's lifeless body and cried and cried. She didn't have much time to deal the situation before her mother turned, she knew that. A few minutes past before she decided to get up. She reached into the front of her pants to grab the pistol her father handed to her before he died. Lilly heard Jess slam the door shut as she kneeled down and pressed the gun to her dead mother's forehead. _**

**_"I'll look after her, Mom. I promise. I'm sorry, I love you."_**

**_Then Lilly adjusted her eyes to face the wall and pulled the trigger. Then it was instantly time to leave. The gunshot would bring more of them, a lot more of them. Lilly's house was right in the middle of the city and the walkers would be drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Jess already had their bags packed with tonnes of supplies, and she was shaking like a leaf. Lilly's looked at her with sympathy in her eyes. She wished she could make this all better for her six year old little niece, and to be able to hide in the attic until the government sorted this out. But the reality was, this disaster was staying for a lot longer than she could hope for. Lilly grabbed her niece's hand and checked if the coast was clear from the back door. _**

**_"Let's go."_**

"Come on, Jess. Keep up."

Walkers were following them. A hell of a lot of walkers. Lilly always managed to be faster than them, but her little niece was not into running at all, even when the dead were chasing her. This could quickly turn into disaster for them both. Lilly and Jess had the advantage on the walkers, as they were quite far away from them, but at a bad moment, Jess fell over and instantly burst into tears. There was no other solution than for Lilly to scoop her up and run for their lives. Luckily, Jess was as light as a feather and Lilly could keep on sprinting as a good speed. But it wouldn't last for long, and Lilly wouldn't be able to cope any longer and then the walkers would be on them and then it would be over. Her promise to her mother would be meaningless and she would have let her sister and brother-in-law down, if they were still alive.

Then it was like somebody had thrown her a lifeline. Up ahead, there was an overturned van. Lilly crouched down and went around to the back, facing the direction that the walkers were headed for. Now she had to be quick. From the side, she eased the shutter and threw their supplies in. The walkers were getting closer and closer, still clueless about the girls whereabouts, and Lilly let Jess clamber in.

"There's no space!" Jess cried, panicked. The van was still cluttered with supplies.

"Okay, okay," Lilly comforted her, in a hushed tone. "Listen, I'm going to lie down in the driver's seat, okay? They won't see me. You have to trust me. Be brave, it might be a little be dark. If they find you, shout for me. Otherwise, Jess, please be quiet."

Obediently, Jess nodded her head and Lilly gave her a reassuring smile as she eased the shutter down. She ran to the front of the car but there was one walker that must have caught up with them before the rest. Quickly, she pulled her large knife out from her boot and stabbed it right in the walkers temple. Black blood oozed out from the head of the corpse, as it slumped down to the side. As hushed as she could, she opened the van door and lay down on the overturned seat and held her breath, hoping her best for her and Jess. All she could hear for the next sixty seconds was the sound of moaning and feet shuffling across the highway gravel. Lilly's hands shook thinking about the welfare of her little niece, alone and basically blind in the back of the van. Lilly imagined how frightened she must be, hearing all the noises outside. There was a moment when a walker must have fell against the van and it made quite a unexpected bang. There was no squealing though and Lilly thought how brave Jess must have been not to make a sound.

Silence. Silence surrounded Lilly and the van. She wasn't sure how long she should leave it until she climbed out. "Jess?" she whispered, hoping that somehow she might be able to hear her, but there was no answer. Lilly sighed. _Two minutes, _she thought. _I'll leave it for two minutes. _

Then came the worst sound that Lilly ever could have heard.

Somebody started to squeal and scream.

**Author's Note: What do you think? I know it's short and I'm sorry for that, but I just wanted to start it off slow, to see what people thought. So did you like the cliffhanger? Who screamed? What will Lilly do? Is Jess okay? I hope you're asking yourself these things:) I'm not sure that this beginning chapter will make a good impression to some people? I hope it does! I just wanted to see if I get any good reviews to encourage me to do another chapter. So, please review! Let me know what you thought. **


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey guys, I didn't get many reviews for Chapter 1. Well, in fact, I only got two which disappointed me quite a lot but I just wanted to get on with Chapter 2 because I'm excited to write it. I don't expect people to read it after nobody reviewed but I just like putting my chapters out there, it's fun to write them. To the people who did leave a review, that's_**_ LunaraWolf _**_and __**ShutxThexFrontxDoor**__, thank you:) I appreciate your review. I'm determined to make this chapter longer than the previous one:) So, whether or not anybody wants to read it, here is Chapter 2! _

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own any of the original story or characters or anything you may recognise from the show._

* * *

_Chapter 2: The New Group._

Without hesitation, Lilly jumped out of the front seat and instantly ran around to the back. Her heart pounded against her chest, it felt so tight. _Please let her be alright, _she thought. Then she stopped in confusion. The shutter was closed, firmly, just the way Lilly had left it. No noise was coming from behind it - the walkers were halfway down the highway by now. But Lilly was sure she had heard a little girls voice scream. The next thing Lilly knew there was a muffling sound coming from the van. Crying. In a second, Lilly had the shutter up and there was Jess, tucked in a corner as small as she could, like they'd practised, sniffling.

As soon as Jess saw Lilly, she jumped up and ran towards her. She wrapped her arms around her auntie's neck, and squeezed her legs around her waist in a tight hug. Lilly whispered words of comfort and patted her back. Thank God her little niece was okay.

"Have they gone?" Jess asked so quietly, almost inaudible.

"Yes, they've gone, sweetheart."

Jess just nodded and lay her head down on her shoulder. "I'm tired."

"I know you are, I know."

The sound of a car made Lilly spin around. Jess clambered down and hid behind Lilly's legs. A red car was being pushed out of the way by a blonde woman. Lilly crouched down, Jess copying her. Lilly studied the woman, as she walked back to some more people. _People. _Every single one of them was alive and near enough well. Except for one poor man with blood pouring out from his arm that an old man was helping fix up. The temptation to run over for help tugged at Lilly's mind. Their group probably had supplies, food, water. That RV sure looked like somewhere Jess could get some sleep. What if she ran over now, with Jess in her arms, and begged them to allow them into their group? Would they accept or would Lilly have to deal with the humiliation of being rejected?

But Lilly shook her head. She was determined to keep Jess safe by herself. She promised. Lilly could do it, she knew that - why did she need help? But, looking at Jess, malnourished and exhausted, she felt sick. A promise that she had made to her mother, didn't look like it could be kept at this stage. Nothing was working out well for the pair. Any food that Lilly did find she gave to Jess, and sooner or later Lilly wouldn't have any energy in her body to even try to look for more food.

Lilly cursed under her breath as she swallowed her pride and took the hand of her six-year-old niece. Before making any rash decisions, she pondered about what to say to their group. Should she just walk over and introduce themselves, or just stand up and wait until they're noticed? But before she could even decide what to do, a man in baggy pants and military boots spotted Lilly through an abandoned car's window. He didn't seem to notice the innocent little girl with her. He grabbed his shotgun and shouted out. An Asian man came to his side, armed with his own gun.

"God damn," Lilly muttered.

She smiled weakly at Jess and stood up from behind the car. "Don't shoot. We're not going to try anything."

"We?" the Asian boy asked.

Jess crept out from behind Lilly and hugged her legs. The two men tense bodies softened and they lowered their guns. The one with the black hair looked over at Lilly. "What's your business?"

"Just passing through when that herd came by. We hid in that van over there. I spotted your group, thought I'd ask for a bit of help. My niece is tired and hungry," Lilly said.

"Can we do that? Just let them in like that?" the Asian boy asked the other guy wearily.

"I don't think Rick would argue with allowing a little girl safety, do you?"

The Asian boy shook hid head and smiled at Jess. "Hi, I'm Glenn."

He was only being friendly, but the two girls were told to trust no one except each other, so Jess ignorantly turned her head away. Glenn and the other guy led them towards their group, who all stared in amazement. "This is our group, I guess."

"Very big. I guess you must be a tough group to have survived this long," Lilly said, trying a smile. But how could she, when she knew that she has failed by not being able to protect Jess on her own?

"We have some food, for you and your daughter, if you want it," the old guy with the hat on said. "I'm Dale."

"Thanks, Dale. She's not my daughter, she's my niece. Thanks for the offer - we sure appreciate it." At the sight of fresh fruit, Jess darted off, completely forgetting the rule about trust. Lilly opened her mouth to shout her back when she stopped. Even though she was really pissed off at her failure, could she object to an innocent guy giving her the food she's been longing for? The food that Lilly couldn't give her. All these thoughts and the help they were getting off of this new group really depressed her.

"You're welcome to stay for as long as you like. You know Glenn, and Dale. That guy over there, with the bad cut on his arm, that's T-Dog. That's Lori, and her son Carl. Andrea's the blonde one siphoning gas over there. And that woman, over there, that's Carol."

"She's crying. Why's that?" Lilly questioned, not really that concerned but the least she could do for this group was pretend.

"We just had a situation, with that pack of walkers. Two of 'em chased her little girl down that hill and she ain't come back yet. Two of our group went to look for her, and she's waiting up for 'em."

"I heard the screams. Thought it was Jess, I panicked. That's when I found your group," Lilly told this man. She shivered at the thought a a frightened little girl lost in the woods getting chased by those things. She looked at the guy, with sympathy in her eyes for their lost member of their group. "I'm Lilly."

"Shane," he said, shaking her hand. Lilly didn't really want to touch him, but she kept reminding herself of the warm welcome he had given to her (not the whole shotgun part) and Jess and quickly took his hand and shook it.

"Well, er, thanks. For letting us join you guys," Lilly mumbled. "For a while anyway."

"You won't be stayin' with us?"

Lilly shrugged and climbed the ladder of the RV to talk to Jess. "Hey, Jess. How are you?"

"I'm great. I like Dale," Jess said and beamed. Dale chuckled and patted her shoulder.

"I like you too, little 'un." Lilly glared at his socializing with her and he quickly took his hand away.

"I like him because..." Jess thought hard, then smiled wide.

"He gives me snacks."

* * *

Lilly couldn't bother with any of the other guys as Jess ate her way through Dale's snacks. She tried to stop her a few times, letting her know that the snacks were not just for her, but Dale just dismissed it. "It's no bother."

The sun started to set on what had been an extremely long day. Lilly wondered where she and Jess would sleep tonight. Would Dale allow them to sleep in the RV or would they have to settle for one of the abandoned cars?

"Dale, do you think that Jess and I could maybe - "

She was cut off by the sound of Carol's words. "They're back!"

Two figures emerged from the trees and Lilly automatically grabbed Jess, thinking these two figures were the ones of walkers. But when she seen Carol start to cry a lot more, and heard the two men talking, she realised. They were the two group members who went out after her little girl.

"Could you just wait here with Jess for a moment please, Dale?"

Dale happily agreed as Lilly climbed down the RV to get a closer look. One man was wearing a bloodied white shirt, a sheriff hat in his hand and a pistol in his holster. Lilly thought he was the 'Rick' that Shane mentioned earlier, and acknowledged him as the leader of the group. At least, he seemed to take control of the situation with the missing girl. The other guy wore a sleeveless vest, exposing his muscles. He had patches of blood on his clothes too and a crossbow slung on his back. They were both extremely dirty and bloody, and looked exhausted and guilty.

"You didn't find her?" Carol sighed, anxious and saddened.

"Her trail went cold," Rick said. "We'll pick it up again at first light." _Responsible, _Lilly thought. _Nice. _

"I can't leave my daughter out there, to spend the night alone in the woods," Carol complained.

"Out in the dark's no good, we'd just be trippin' over ourselves. More people'd get lost," the crossbow guy said. He spoke with a thick redneck accent. Lilly was fond of redneck accents. There was a boy in her school was had a really nice accent and this guy reminded her of him. Lilly noticed this guy was good-looking and smirked to herself. _Bit of eye-candy in this group. _She shook her head. What was she thinking? She couldn't be thinking about this man's looks when there was a little girl missing. More importantly to Lilly was that she had her own little girl to take care of.

"But she's twelve! She can't be out there on her own!" Carol exclaimed, on the verge of tears. "Didn't you find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you to not panic," Rick reasoned. He tried to comfort Carol and calm her down by saying that he knew her little girl was out there.

"Tracked her for a while," the redneck added.

"We have to make this organised. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody," Rick informed the group. "He's gonna oversee this."

Carol lost track of thought when she noticed the blood on the redneck's clothing. Daryl, Lilly now knew his name. "Is that...blood?" Carol breathed.

Daryl looked at her clothing, unsure of how to tell the mother of the lost girl the reason why he had come across blood in the search for the girl. Carols breathing got very unsteady and messy. "We took down a walker."

At the moment, everybody stood still. That one word made everybody's heart stop in fear.

"_Walker?_" Carol said, shakily.

"There's no sign it was anywhere near Sophia."

"How can you know that?" Andrea piped up. Daryl and Rick exchanged looks, until Daryl was one to speak.

"We cut the son of a bitch open. Made sure," he reassured her. Lilly thought that is where it got too much for Carol to take in. Nervous and terrified, she sat down and took a few deep breaths. Then, suddenly, she glared at the sheriff.

"How could you just leave her out there, to begin with?"

"Those two walkers were on us!" he argued his side. "I had to draw 'em off. It was our best chance." He bent down so he was at eye level with Carol.

"How is she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child, she's just a child," Carol started sobbing on Lori's shoulder, repeating the same phrase over and over.

"It was the only option," Rick stuttered. But Carol didn't want to hear it.

Lilly's heart went out to both parties here. From what she heard, it seemed like Rick tried his best to protect Sophia, no matter what. He took down walkers, it seemed so, and made sure he knew all his options before deciding what to do. But on the other hand, what if it was Jess? Could she be able to forgive the man who give up their search at nightfall, when it would be the most frightening time for a small child?

She looked over at Rick and noticed his eyes looked saddened, disappointed in himself. Lilly tried to put herself in his shoes. How bad must he be feeling right now? Nobody except Daryl was understanding the choices he made.

"I'm sure your friend did everything he could to find your little girl, Carol."

It was the first words that Lilly had spoken in front of the whole group. Everybody's eyes were on here, and it was the first time Rick and Daryl had ever seen her. Lilly felt awkward as everybody watched her and listened to her comment. She felt like she didn't belong, like she was speaking out of turn. Daryl's eyes landed on her and it was like he disapproved of her already.

"Who the hell are you?"

_Great, he's so friendly._

"That's Lilly. Her and her niece hid when the herd came through. We offered our help," Lori filled them in.

"I'm grateful for it too. My niece is only six. Her name's Jess, she's sitting for Dale for the time being."

Even after introducing herself, everybody still stared at her like she was an alien. Yes, she was new but the feeling of a 'warm welcome' soon started to wear off on Lilly. Now it was just like Jess and her were in the way of their group. Nobody knew anything about them - though it was obvious that they were not highly dangerous.

It was still silent. Lilly cleared her throat and smiled reassuringly at Carol. "She'll turn up."

And with that, she walked away, aware of everybody's eyes on her as she left.

* * *

**Author's Note:** _So that was Chapter 2! I hope you like it. A lot of this chapter was filled with dialog. This was mainly about Lilly listening to the group and adapting to their group and the bond between the group members. Basically, Lilly is listening into their conversations and trying to understand and fit in. _

_Thanks for reading Chapter 2! Chapter 3 will be up soon but for now, please review, or/and follow or anything you like but most of all, let me know what you think:)_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey guys. Sorry it's took me a lot longer than I'd have thought to get this chapter up. I'm a bit disappointed with this chapter myself and I've went over it quite a lot, that's why it's taken a while. Thanks to those who reviewed on Chapter 2, **ShutxThexFrontxDoor **and **jomaxrox** - your reviews made me smile. I also noticed more people followed, so thank you for that too! To those who followed/favourite but didn't review, please, please, please do, so I know whether I'm doing a good job. It is quite short too, I'm really discouraged with this chapter. Sorry!_

___**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own any of the original story or characters or anything you may recognise from the show._

* * *

_Chapter 3: The Shouting._

Lilly woke up to the blissful sound of peace. Birds were chirping, the trees were softly rustling. Hell, if the dead hadn't risen up to eat the living, it would have felt like a normal day. The type of day where Lilly would have lay in bed for half an hour before she realised she was going to be late for work and the rest of her morning was rushed and hectic. That was her normal daily morning.

But that wasn't the case anymore. The dead _had _risen up to eat the living, and peace was nothing but abnormal these days. Lilly opened her eyes and stretched quickly before she noticed something wasn't right. Where was the annoying loud snores that she had become so used to hearing first thing? She looked over to where the other sleeping bag was rolled out. One corner of the duvet had been pulled back and there was a print on the pillow where Jess had laid her head the night before.

_What the hell do they think they're doing?_

She pulled her boots on and slipped her knife in before placing her handgun in the front of her pants. She still had to be careful - who knew how dangerous this group could possibly be? Lilly nearly took the door of the RV off of its hinges as she stormed outside. She figured she was the last to wake up. Before Rick could even have a chance to welcome her and explain things, Lilly climbed up the RV ladder to face Dale on watch.

"Good morning-" Dale began.

"Where is she?" Lilly interrupted, furious. She crossed her arms firmly and glared at Dale. "Where the hell is Jess?"

That's when Lilly heard her laugh and turned her head to see Jess sitting against Carol's Cherokee with Carl, joking around. He seemed like a harmless little kid but Lilly was still angry that somebody had taken Jess in the morning without her permission. She turned back around to see Dale pointing in the direction of Jess and narrowed her eyebrows.

"What gives you the right to take her outside without me?" Jess asked. "I can't think of one single reason why that would cross your mind as a smart thing to do."

Dale sighed. "When she woke up, she was hungry. I gave her a little breakfast, that's all. She's been playing with Carl since."

Lilly took a deep breath in. So, Jess was hungry and Dale fed her. That's all. _So calm down. _Dale followed her down the ladder as Glenn took his turn on watch.

"Lilly!" Jess sang as she noticed her aunt climbing down the ladder.

"Hey, Jess. I heard you wandered off without me," she said. Jess blushed and put her head down.

"I was hungry."

"Hey, don't worry about it. But next time, wake me up too, okay?" Lilly reasoned, giving her niece a reassuring hug. Jess leaned over and whispered in her auntie's ear.

"I'm still hungry," she said. Lilly laughed and promised her that she could have some of Lilly's breakfast too.

"Oh, no you don't," Dale laughed. "If Jess is still hungry, I'll fetch her some more food. You need all of yours."

Lilly bit down on her tongue and closed her eyes, her back to Dale. "No. That's fine."

"It's no harm. Here, would she like some-" Dale said, generously handing out some more fruit for Jess to eat, when Lilly snapped.

"I said, that's fine! I can look after her myself. I'm perfectly capable!" She stood up and looked at Dale, whose face had dropped and hands had curled back around the peach.

"I wasn't suggesting otherwise."

"Dale, I-" Lilly began to feel really bad on the man. He was the one who had bothered with Jess and Lilly the most and made sure they were okay. He made them feel the most welcome. Dale felt like a cute grandad. Lilly wondered if he was one, before all the world went to hell. She sighed. "You can give her a little something, if you really feel the need to do so."

Dale smiled and handed Jess a portion of his share, to which she declared Dale 'the best person ever.' Lilly didn't like that.

Andrea walked past, giving Lilly a very evil glare. She messed around with the food and snarled. "Where has the rest of your share gone, Dale?"

Dale explained the situation to Andrea, and she did not approve at all. She stared at Jess, a hint of annoyance in her eyes. Lilly smiled at Jess and then left her with Carl and headed over to Andrea and Dale. They seemed to be having an argument, and when Lilly came over, Andrea rolled her eyes.

"Problem, guys?" Lilly questioned, trying hard not to snap. How long had she been here? A day, if that, and Andrea was already starting to complain about her. _Well, I don't like her either, _Lilly thought childishly.

"No, it's nothing," Dale said. "It's just-"

Andrea cut Dale off abruptly before he could even attempt to make an excuse up. "I'm not happy with it."

"With what?" Lilly asked.

"That," Andrea stabbed a finger in the direction of Jess, happily munching away.

"Yes? What about it?" Lilly pressed. Dale gave Andrea a look as if to say 'leave it', but Andrea took no notice.

"So, just because you're new, you get some special treatment?" her tone turned harsh in a second. "You know, we work our ass off to get food for the group, and you can't just wander in, demanding it. You took half of Dale's share, for Christ's sake! Who do you think you are?"

Lilly blinked a few times and prepared to snap right back at Andrea before she took a deep breath. _Give this bitch a chance. _

"I didn't know he gave half up. He only gave it to Jess, she hasn't eaten in days. So I owe him, and I'll remember that."

"You'd better. Do you think your little girl is the only starving one in this damn world lately?" Andrea spat. "Take a look around. We're _all _hungry."

"She's a six year old girl!" Lilly said, her voice raising. "She is weaker than the rest of us!"

"We're all weak at this point!" Andrea shouted, coming right up in Lilly's face. "You should both get the same amount as the rest of us. In fact, you should get less."

"Listen to me, you stupid-" Lilly shouted, before getting pulled to the side by soft hands. Lilly was furious. How dare Andrea talk to her like that? Especially about Jess. _In front _of Jess. Damn, Lilly would get her back one day, she swore. The angry woman turned her head to see who took her away. It was a dark-haired woman, whose name was on the tip of her tongue, but she just could not remember. This woman ran a hand through her hair and gave Lilly an exasperated look.

"Listen, honey, I'm not going to pretend that I know you. Hell, these are the first words I've spoken to you since you've arrived. But listen to me. You and your niece...well, you seem like good people. You're in the same situation as the rest of us. We all need to stick together now, okay?" She smiled, trying to get Lilly to notice reason. Then Lilly remembered her name.

"Lori," she said. It was more of a statement than a question, and Lori confirmed it by nodding. "You're Rick's wife. He seems like a good man, I haven't had the chance to talk about anything permanent yet. You wouldn't have heard a word from me if it weren't for Andrea."

"I know. She's, uh, she's been going through a tough time lately. Her sister has not long died and she practically gave up. She stayed in a building that was about to blow up, voluntarily. Dale got her out, I don't know what was said or done but Andrea's been pretty pissed off since. Don't take it personally."

"I'll try."

"You don't want to sabotage your place in this group. You can't sabotage Jess' either."

"I know, Lori. I know how to take care of her," Lilly argued defensively.

"I understand." Then Lori walked away, leaving Lilly pondering about her actions earlier with Andrea. She hadn't started it, and she honestly didn't know how much Dale had given up for Jess. It annoyed Lilly how Dale didn't mention anything. Was Lori suggesting that she apologise to Andrea? Lilly thought about it, maybe it would fix everything up. Then again, maybe not.

Then again, Lilly didn't really care.

* * *

"I'm not going out there without my gun. I'll even say please."

Lilly looked up from the ground. She had been crouching down talking to Jess when she heard Andrea start going on at Dale. If this was somebody else, Rick or Daryl, then Lilly wouldn't care. But Andrea had been a total jerk to her and Dale had been nothing but accepting of her. She walked slowly off, eavesdropping.

"What do you think I'm gonna do? Stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?" Andrea said sarcastically.

"If I hadn't done what I did, you'd be dead now," Dale reasoned.

"Jenner gave us an option - I chose to stay."

Everybody was starting to watch the pair as they began to argue back and forth. Not one person of the group stuck up for either one. _What type of close group doesn't stick up for their friends? _Lilly thought, disgusted.

"You chose suicide!" Dale exclaimed.

"So what's that to you?" Andrea spat. "You barely know me."

"I - I know Amy's death devastated you," Dale stuttered, struggling for words.

"Leave her out of this. This is about us, not Amy."

The group pretended to prepare for their search awkwardly as Andrea rose her voice at Dale.

"If I decided I had nothing left to live for, _who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? _To force my hand like that?!"

Dale's eyes saddened and his shoulders drooped. "I saved your life."

"No, Dale. I saved yours. I didn't want your blood on my hands."

The elderly man looked absolutely devastated while the group just stood and watched. Despite that Andrea was yelling at Lilly's only friend so far, she was also yelling in front of the kids. Lilly stepped forward.

"I don't care whether nobody else will say it. I will," Lilly snapped.

"Stay out of this," Andrea snarled at Lilly. But Lilly was determined, and so she stepped forward by Dale's side.

"I don't know what happened, and I don't really give a shit. But it sounds like Dale is the reason you're standing here right now. In your eyes, that might not be a good thing, but he saved your life. The least thing you could show is a tiny bit of gratitude. If you're happy or if you're just totally pissed off, take it somewhere else, because I'm sure Dale doesn't want to hear it after what he did for you." Lilly breathed out. She said her piece and stuck up for somebody else. She felt good.

"Gratitude? I wanted to die my way. It's his fault I can't," Andrea shouted. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm being there for someone who thought they did the right thing!" Lilly shouted louder. "It doesn't seem like nobody else will!"

Lilly stormed off, hearing Andrea continuing to make Dale feel bad. She clenched her shaking hands into a fist. What had she just done? Andrea made her so angry, so she screamed like a crazy woman in front of everyone? Attracting walkers, making her look bad, scaring Jess. What had Andrea made her do? Lilly walked over to Rick, her throat hurting because of her loud voice.

"I'm coming with you."

Rick turned around, anxiety printed all over his face. He looked over at Andrea who had finally left Dale alone and was glaring at Lilly. "You're sure about that? It doesn't seem like the best idea."

Rick was trying to brush her aside but Carol came over, having overheard everything. "I'd really appreciate it. The more help we get to look for her, the better."

Lilly smiled sympathetically at Carol and went to speak to Dale. "Hey, did she give you hell?" Dale smiled, but it had no emotion behind it.

"She's not my problem. Her words - not mine."

Lilly scoffed. "She's a big problem. A messed up crazy problem, but she's certainly not yours."

"You don't understand, Lilly. But never mind that. What's up?"

"I'm going the help the group with this search for Sophia. Would you - " Lilly started.

"Say no more." Dale smiled as Jess ran over.

"Where are you going, Aunt Lilly?" Lilly crouched down and gave her niece a tight hug, reassuring her.

"Just going out with Rick and the group for a bit."

"Can't I come?" Jess stuck her bottom lip out. "Please?"

"Why don't you stay here and help Dale and T-Dog with the RV? Do you think you can fix it with them?" Jess nodded as Lilly tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

Lilly stood up and prepared to leave. Lori came over to her and stared at her, a look in her eyes.

"Don't give me that look."

"That big shouting and screaming thing before, with Andrea? That's not going to help your chances around here, Lilly."

"Yeah, well. That stupid..._woman_...deserved it!" Lilly shoved past Lori and then instantly regretted. She walked behind Daryl and sighed. What if she was blowing her chances already? She had such a short temper with people like Andrea, who thought they were better than everybody else. But she had Jess to think about. From now this, from this minute, she would try to be more patient and really _try _and make an effect with this group.

How long would it last?

* * *

**_Author's Note: Like I said, I was not very confident with this chapter but I'd been thinking for days now and I didn't know how to improve it. BUT YOU MIGHT:D So please review:) _**


	4. Chapter 4

_Thanks to those who read, favourite, followed, reviewed these past three chapters. It means a lot:) Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I'll try harder to post more regularly. _

_**Disclaimer**__: I do not own any of the original story or characters or anything you may recognise from the show._

* * *

_Chapter 4._

Lilly got even more annoyed when Daryl turned around and grunted at her. "God, what have I done now?"

"Nothin'," Daryl shrugged. "Just don't like to be so close to people."

Lilly took a step back and sighed. "That makes two of us."

Lilly found herself falling to the back of the line, behind Shane. There was no one she could talk to. Daryl clearly wasn't comfortable socializing and the group were all busy looking round the forest. How they could see anything was a mystery to Lilly. She should have probably been searching too but what was the point? She couldn't make out a single thing. Young Carl smiled at her and she responded with a warm grin. Lilly started to take a liking to Carl, he was sweet and he spent time with Jess.

"Hey!" Lilly looked to her right and there was the boy himself, beaming.

"Hi, Carl," Lilly said, eyeing his flick knife. "Be careful with that."

"It's so cool, isn't it?" he said, a little too enthusiastically, showing it to her.

Shane turned around and frowned. "Carl!" he whispered, with an edge to his voice. "Keep it down. We're looking for Sophia!"

Carl's shoulders drooped and he looked down at the floor. "I must have done something to make him annoyed at me."

Lilly nudged Carl to make him look back up at her. Once Shane's back was turned, she stuck her tongue out at him playfully. Carl smirked and joined in and the two carried on like this for a while until the group suddenly stopped. There was a worn out yellow tent further ahead that Rick and Daryl went to inspect. Carol slowly followed and called out Sophia's name to which there was no reply. Daryl went inside and came back out a few minutes later, saying there was some guy who opted out.

Carol turned around and Lilly felt sympathy for the older woman. Lilly joined her in following the rest of the group and gave her a weak smile. "We'll find her."

Carol looked at her, pain showing all over her face, like it was written in big black letters. "I hope to God that's true. I just keep thinking about-"

She was interrupted by the sound of bells. Church bells. Someone could be ringing them, signalling that they'd found Sophia or maybe it was Sophia herself. These were the things the group discussed before they took off running in what they guessed was the right direction. Lilly was a good sprinter, better than anybody in this group and she quickly made her way to the front. She decided not to overtake Rick thought, considering he was the leader. They pushed through the trees until they entered a large area of grass and saw a white church with no sign of any bells. Lilly sighed - another bit of hope crushed in such little time.

"That can't be it," she pointed out.

"She's right," Shane added. "It ain't got no bells. No steeple."

But Rick ran off anyway, with Shane calling out after him. _This guy_, Lilly thought. _Trying to keep hold of any hope out there. _Everybody ran after Rick up the church steps to the double doors, with Rick putting a finger to his lips. The group fell silent. Daryl and Rick pushed the doors open to reveal three rotten corpses, sat on separate pews. Rick and Daryl set off to kick the closest two and Shane prepared for the middle walker, when Lilly stopped him.

"Let me," Lilly volunteered. Shane nodded and rejected any offers on weapons. She walked down the middle aisle, while the group behind her waited for her to produce a weapon. Lilly slipped the knife out of her boot when she was inches away from the walker. It lunged at her but she ducked and kicked it down from behind, so it lay on the floor. It started to get back up again but before it could attack, Lilly thrust her knife in the back of the walker's head. The walker fell down again and Lilly repeatedly stabbed it, making sure it wasn't going to attempt to get back up again. Ever.

Lilly stood up, panting as Rick shouted for Sophia. Suddenly, the sound of bell rang in everybody's ears and they headed outside. A speaker rang from the side of the building, attracting all sorts of things. Mostly walkers. Lilly and Glenn rushed over to shut it off as the sound blared out.

"Timer. It's on a timer," Daryl informed the rest of the group.

"I'm gonna' go back in for a bit," Carol said, her voice filled with sadness and disappointment, as she walked back into the church to pray for her daughter.

Lilly thought at that moment, everybody felt the same great disappointment.

* * *

"I'm not asking you to go steady, Shane. I'm asking for a ride."

Lilly was sat against a tree, cleaning her knife. There was blood all over it from her walker kill earlier. She would know that annoying voice anywhere but this particular conversation piqued her interest. Andrea seemed to be asking a favour of Shane and it started to get quite desperate on Andrea's side, which Lilly scoffed at.

"You observed this group lately? I have. I see two people who don't belong. " Lilly rolled her eyes at this. Did Andrea think she was something special?

"We're the odd men out. Between the two of us, we make a great third wheel," Andrea continued.

"So what?" Shane spoke, in his deep voice. "Say we do run off. What's in it for me? Except an extra ass I gotta' cover."

Lilly wanted to laugh at that point. Andrea was a pain and Lilly was sure that Shane would be the one who would be doing all the heavy lifting. Andrea would be a ridiculously big inconvenience when it came to the part about getting your hands dirty, and protecting somebody else.

"The chance to do something for somebody else," Andrea was saying. _Yeah, right! _Lilly thought. Maybe back when everything was normal and the majority of people would hold a door open for somebody or help a woman carry her baby stroller up a flight of stairs - just because somebody else needed the help. But now, it was basically every man for themselves.

Andrea decided to change her reason. "The door swings both ways. Put a gun in my hand, I'll cover your ass too."

Shane scoffed, and Lilly shook her head in disbelief. Was this girl for real?

As the group started to pile out of the church, Andrea told Shane to think it over. Lilly heard him sighed and then he spoke to Rick. She could lay there forever as far as she was concerned. She was peaceful there. Until somebody had to interrupt her peace. It was Lori - again. God, couldn't Lori just give her a break?

"The guys are discussing what to do about this search. Rick wants to carry on, Shane wants to head back," Lori explained.

"So? What do you expect me to do about that?"

"Your opinion counts, Lilly. You might wanna' go over there and let 'em know what you think."

Lori didn't really give her a choice. Lilly supposed she would have to go over there now and involve herself in the situation. She pushed herself up and followed Lori to where the group were talking about the search.

"Y'all gonna' follow the creek bed back. Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick are gonna' hang back, search this area for another hour or so, be thorough," Shane said.

"You're splittin' us up?" Daryl asked. "You sure?"

"Yeah. We'll catch up."

Carl stepped forward. "I wanna' stay too. I'm Sophia's friend."

The group looked to Rick for an answer but they didn't get one. Instead, Lori cupped Carl's face in her hands and told him to be careful. Then, she looked at Lilly who sighed and looked towards Rick. "You need an extra hand?"

"That'd be great, but ain't you got a daughter to-"

Lilly could have kicked herself for forgetting about poor little Jess. "_Niece. _And yeah, I have. So, I won't be coming with you, sorry."

Carol looked over at Lilly and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about her. I'll look after her when we get back. It's the least I could do, if y'all going out there looking for my little girl."

Damn. Why did Carol have to be so nice? Lilly did want to help, and did want to find Carol's daughter but right now, she just wanted to get back to Jess. It had been a seriously long day and Lilly almost regretted offering to help in the first place.

But she sighed and looked over at the two guys.

"Alright, alright. Count me in."

* * *

They had been walking for about ten minutes when Rick threw his hand up and made them all stop in their tracks. He must have heard something the rest of them didn't hear. Lilly was behind Carl and Shane was at the back of the line. He pointed in the direction of rustling leaves and Rick, Lilly and Shane eased their guns out and held them in their position. Rick stood in front of Carl protectively.

The first thing Lilly saw was the antlers of a buck. Almost immediately, her and Rick lowered their guns, but Shane kept his shotgun straight, aiming at the deer. The first live thing any of their had seen in a long, long time. It was beautiful, and Lilly smiled as it twitched its little black nose. How Shane could kill a beautiful creature was beyond her, even though she agreed that they needed the food. Well, their group did. Lilly wasn't sure if she was staying for definite yet.

"Shane," Rick whispered, signalling for him to lower his shotgun. Little Carl was edging towards the deer, memorised by its beauty, as was Lilly. He crept closer and closer to the buck and it didn't even flinch. The buck stared at Carl as he hand reached out to stroke it. He looked back at Rick, Lilly and Shane. Lilly gave him a thumbs-up and a smile.

Everything was quiet as the space between the buck and Carl got shorter and shorter. Then, unexpectedly, the sound of a gunshot rang in everybody's ears. Lilly looked over at Shane, who was the only one with his gun still out, but he looked as surprised as Lilly. Then the sound of a something slumping to the floor made Lilly's heart stop. She looked over to where the buck had fallen, shortly followed by the younger boy.

"No," Rick breathed.

Lilly looked over at him, her mouth falling open.

"No, no, _no!_" Rick shouted. All three ran over to Carl. The blood from spreading out from the gun shot wound, in his stomach. Red blood stained his camouflage shirt, and his face turned ghostly pale.

A large man emerged from the forest, wearing a cap and carrying a gun. His eyes widened in terror as he saw the body lying on the floor with three people fussing over it. Shane stood up and grabbed the man by his shirt. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm...Otis."

"You shot my boy!" Rick shouted, tearfully.

"I...I'm sorry. It was an accident," Otis stuttered, then he looked up. "I know how to help. There's a farm, couple miles down the road. I'm staying there with my wife. We have a doctor - he can help your boy."

Immediately, Rick scooped Carl up from the ground and ran in the direction Otis pointed. Shane pushed Otis harshly after them with Lilly following quickly behind. They all ran, or in Otis' case pushed, until they broke out onto a field. By this time, Carl's shirt was soaked in blood and Rick was panting, heaving Carl up.

"How far?" Lilly shouted at Otis.

"Half a mile. Talk to Hershel. He'll help your friend's boy," Otis panted.

Lilly ran ahead, keeping pace with Rick. She caught up with him and ran at the same speed. "Come on, Rick. Half a mile. Ask for Hershel. Keep running, I'm running with you."

Lilly ran with Rick until they saw the farm, where they could see a girl on watch in the distance. They continued to run, Lilly holding the gate open for Rick so he wouldn't have to. Lilly and Rick reached the front door of the farm, where five people were standing waiting for them.

"Was he bit?" an elder man asked.

"Shot," Rick told him.

"By your man!" Lilly snapped.

As the doctor took care of Carl, setting him on the bed inside the house, Lilly looked around at the people living there. She recognised someone, they had a familiar face.

"Hold up a second," she said as the familiar person turned around. "I know you."

* * *

**Author's Note: **So who does Lilly know? Will it be Hershel, Beth, Maggie, Patricia or Jimmy that she recognises? What do you think? Let me know if you liked this chapter, please leave a review! :)


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey guys! I made a slight change to Chapter 1, because stupidly I made Jess' dad to be Lilly's uncle, which does not make sense at all because then it would make Jess Lilly's cousin. I don't even know why I did that, hahaha. All I've done is just changed uncle to brother-in-law and aunt to sister. So basically, Lilly's brother-in-law dropped Jess off at Lilly's house because Lilly's sister was in the hospital. I also mentioned that Lilly felt she would let her aunt and uncle down if they were still alive, but that's also changed to brother-in-law and sister, because it didn't make sense. You can go back and read it if that would make more sense. I'm so sorry about thatD: Thanks for the reviews!_

ShutxThexFrontxDoor - Thank you, your review means a lot. Now here's Chapter 5, so you won't have to wait much longer! Thank you so much:) I hope you'll enjoy this one too. And don't worry, I do have my plans to bring out Jimmy more in this story:)

princesspenguin14 - Oh, thanks for letting me know:) I hope I'm on the right track:) Ooo, thanks so much! I hope you get the chance to read more soon but I look forward to reading more of your reviews!

_I also gained a few more followers for this story, so thank you for that! Please review:) And here's Chapter 5! It has quite a few different scenes in it, so a few of those big lines thingies like the one underneath:) _

* * *

_Chapter 5. _

"You know me?" the person turned around, confused and Lilly nodded. She stared at this person's face hard, trying to remember where they had met before.

_**A fourteen-year-old Lilly was pushed to the floor. **_

_**"What you say ta me?" the same person kicked her when she was down, literally, and then took a swig from a vodka bottle. **_

_**"I just said that..." Lilly coughed as anything rough kick interrupted her, and she groaned and clutched her side. "Alright, I'm sorry."**_

A brief flashback came to Lilly and when she reopened her eyes, it was like this familiar face had seen exactly what Lilly had remembered, for they blushed and spluttered. "I have to help fix that boy." So they ran off, like a coward.

The sound of a door being pushed open made Lilly turn round. Shane stumbled in with the man who shot Carl and walked briskly over to Lilly. "Where is he?"

"He's in that room, but I don't think you're allowed to go in-" Lilly started to say but Shane just arched an eyebrow at her and walked in there nevertheless. Lilly rolled her eyes at him and followed him inside. Carl was laying on the bed, body limp and head lolled to the side. Lilly's stomach sunk seeing him like that. She was having a conversation with Carl just earlier and now he was lying in a life or death situation. Hershel held a pad to his wound as he spoke to Rick.

"Do you know his blood type?" Hershel asked.

"A..." Rick stuttered. "A positive. Same as mine."

"Don't go far. He's gonna' need you," Hershel said.

"Whatever you need."

"I'm A positive too," Lilly paused as everyone in the room turned around to face her. "If you need it. You can't take too much."

"He's my son!"

"I know! You can't too much or you'll make yourself ill! Then what good are you to him? To anyone?" Lilly pointed out. She felt like she wasn't in any position to order Rick about, but she was concerned about the welfare of the group. Jess included. If Rick was the one who arranged things and called the shots, she wanted to make damn sure Jess was properly cared for and safe. Rick could provide safety, somehow someway. She truly believed that.

"The deer slowed the bullet down," Hershel explained. "But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces, but I could get the bullet pieces out - I'm counting six."

Rick grimaced and then it was like he remembered something that made him start to sob heavily. "Lori doesn't know. My wife...she doesn't know."

* * *

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" T-Dog peered round the highway, searching for the other members of their group.

"I want Lilly to come back now," Jess mumbled, curling up into a ball.

Dale stooped down to her eye level and smiled. "They'll be back soon. Don't worry," he reassured her, but Jess would not meet his eyes. Dale sighed and carried on working on the RV. He liked talking to Jess, she was the closest to a granddaughter that he'd ever had - genuinely. He never had any sort of grandchildren, though he wished he had. But he supposed they wouldn't get on so quickly - Lilly was basically Jess' mom now. He wasn't going to argue with the six year old about her auntie's whereabouts.

T-Dog searched through cars, looking for extra supplies and found something. Something that would make him feel better, that he could light up and forget about the rest of the world going to hell. He looked around at Dale, who didn't seem to notice what T-Dog was about to smoke. He wouldn't tolerate it, of course not, especially with a six year old girl to take care of for a few hours. But damn, the pain in his arm and the things he was seeing lately. He needed something to take the edge off. So he grabbed the lighter and let it light.

* * *

"I'll chase her down," Lilly offered. "I'll run if I have to. I'll find her, Rick, I'll be back as quick as I can."

Rick looked up, surprised. "You...what?"

So Lilly repeated herself and the ghost of a smile found its way to Rick's face. "Thank you."

Lilly just nodded. She felt good, and useful for once. She walked back out into the lounge, intending to sprint harder and harder until she tracked Lori down. She'd scream her name if she had to, despite the fact it would basically ring a dinner bell to any walkers around. But she would do it - because she'd like to think that somebody would do that for her, if it ever happened to Jess.

As she was just about to leave the house, somebody rounded the corner and the two nearly collided. "Sorry," Lilly started to apologise when she looked up and noticed who it was. "Oh."

"I heard what you're gonna' do, and I'm here to help."

"I don't need your help, thanks," Lilly snapped and pushed past them, shoving hard in the process. She glanced over her shoulder to see that her little follower was right on her heels. She spun around and her lips turned into a snarl. "I said no."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time. But, I've already saddled your horse now, so, I'm afraid you'll have to take me up on my offer," she nodded over in the direction of two chestnut-coloured horses, both ready to ride.

Lilly frowned. As much as she wanted to punch this person in the face repeatedly, preferably with something much more forceful than her fists, she thought about how much quicker it would be to get to Lori by house. She bit down on her lip hard, wanting so much to give this person the cold shoulder and snub the offer. It annoyed her so much but she managed to suppress all urges to reject the help and agreed.

"Fine. I'll let you help. For Carl."

"Good. I'm not so bad, you know. Don't see why you have to be like this, eight years on."

Lilly scoffed, as she made her way over to the horses. "You know exactly why," she snapped. "Maggie."

As soon as she spoke her name, memories flooded back to her, like before.

* * *

_**14 years ago, Lilly's teacher introduced the new girl. She was from a farmhouse a long way from where Lilly lived, a long way from home. Her hair was cut all jagged and probably by herself. She had dark circles under her eyes and a expression like thunder on her face. She instantly snarled at Lilly, who dressed impeccably and was neat and tidy. Lilly hid her head in her hands, avoiding the new girl's intimidating stare.**_

_**"This is Maggie Greene, she's new here and I expect you to make her comfortable, you hear?" the class agreed and their teacher looked around for somewhere for Maggie to sit.**_

_**Then the worse thing happened. Maggie was assigned to sit next to Lilly. Lilly knew she hadn't done anything wrong but as soon as Maggie sat down, she sat prodding her with a sharpened pencil. She clawed at her when the teacher's back was turned and she spat and swore at her. When it came to lunch, Maggie turned over Lilly's food tray so spaghetti bolognese found its way all over Lilly's clothes with strings of spaghetti slipping down her top. Maggie shook a can of Coke and then opened it, spraying it in Lilly's face. Lastly, Maggie reached behind her for a bottle of mysterious yellow liquid and poured it all over Lilly's head. To the present day, Lilly remembered that day as the worst day of her school life. **_

_**The whole week went by with Lilly dreading coming into school for upsetting the new girl. She didn't even understand what she had done to upset her - in fact they hadn't even spoken a word to each other. But Lilly didn't argue, she just took it on the chin and walked out of school every day, with her dignity chipping away each day. Then one day, it was a Friday, Lilly dared to stand up for herself. Which, of course, made things a whole lot worse.**_

_**"Can you just**_**stop?_" Lilly shouted. Maggie had shoved her into an alley with a bunch of her stuck-up friends and shoved her against a wall, spitting bubble-gum into her hair. Maggie and her gang of cronies stood shell-shocked and Lilly finally spoke. "What the hell would your mom think?" _**

**_Lilly thought she'd spoken some sense into Maggie, but Maggie just threw her to the floor. "What you say ta me?"_**

**_Maggie's friends laughed as they handed her a bottle full of vodka, and she took a long swig. She laughed in Lilly's face as Lilly tried to reason with her. Halfway through what Lilly was saying, Maggie swung her foot into Lilly's side, making her groan and hold her side. Lilly started to apologize and was interrupted by vodka splashing into her face. It got into her eyes and mouth and she spluttered as it entered her nose. Maggie smashed the bottle against the wall and kneeled down, holding the sharp end of the broken bottle dangerously close to Lilly's face. "You think you're so damn perfect, don't ya?" Maggie slurred._**

**_Eyes closed in pain, Lilly held her breath as she responded. "Is that what this is about? I'm far from perfect, Maggie."_**

**_"Yeah, I know that. You just think you are."_**

**_"That can't be all this is about. I didn't do anything to make you so angry, especially..." Lilly took a deep breath. "About your mom. Why did you get so defensive about..." _**

**_Lilly doesn't know what she didn't see it coming. She was treading on dangerous grounds when she brought up that. Clearly, it was a sensitive subject for Maggie, but Lilly had no reason to think about Maggie's feelings. Lilly was just a normal girl, what the hell did Maggie think of her? Maggie pulled back her fist and swung it with all her might into Lilly's face. There was a horrible crunching sound that came from Lilly's nose and Lilly bit her tongue to fight back the tears as blood poured from her nose. This girl was troubled. Her friends jeered and mocked Lilly's moans as Maggie spat in her face._**

**_"You're so god damn lucky," she laughed, and held up the broken bottle "That I didn't use this."_**

**_She threw the bottle to the side, gave Lilly one more blow to the side and walked off, her group of idiot friends handing her bottles of alcohol and packs of stolen cigarettes._**

**_Lilly lay on the ground with blood spilling from her nose and lip, clutching her side, for a good twenty minutes. Then she carefully pushed herself up against the wall with a groan of pain. She realised that she had been holding her breath since she was first pushed into this alley. She breathed out, and inhaled and exhaled slowly a few more times. Lilly crawled over to where the broken bottle lay and, with her shaky hands, picked it up. She contemplated running after Maggie and stabbing her in the heart so she'd die. Lilly chuckled to herself - that was such a childish but tempting idea. But instead, she just tightened her grasp on it, making her palm red and sore and then put it to her hair and cut the bubble-gum out, leaving a patch where her hair used to be. A reminder of Maggie. The bully. _**

**_For the rest of the week, Maggie broke into Lilly's room and stole things, stupid things like her Hello Kitty pyjamas and her old teddy bears and showed them to people in the school to make them laugh at her. She smoked in the alley and then kept her cigarette to press the tip to Lilly's skin to burn her. Lilly wore a hat to cover the patch of missing hair up, but Maggie suspected something and pulled it off one day that week and gripped her hair, pulling more of it out. _**

**_"There ya go. Now you look even stupider than usual," she mocked._**

**_Then came Lilly's lucky break. Maggie's bad behaviour and breaking the rules got her expelled from Lilly's school and she heard that she got sent back home by her grandma for staying out late smoking and drinking. Lilly didn't know where Maggie had gone or whether she'd ever see her again, but she was just relieved she could come to school every day and not see Maggie Greene anymore. She was free._**

* * *

The two girls rode out into the woods in mostly silence, expect for the horses hooves on the ground. The only interaction between the two was Lilly pointing out the direction to where they needed to head. There was no clue as to where Lori and the rest of the search group would be, until there was a deafening scream.

Maggie and Lilly made them horses speed up, galloping towards the sound of the scream and Lilly felt sick the whole time. She couldn't make out if it was Lori or not. What would happen if Carl's mother got bit, or worse? What if Carl didn't make it? Rick would have nothing and they wouldn't even have had the chance to say goodbye. Lilly's thoughts only made her want to go even faster but Maggie beat her to it. Lying on the floor, fighting off a walker was the blonde-haired jerk Lilly had been arguing with before. Andrea.

Maggie knocked the walker to the ground with a baseball bat as Lilly abandoned her horse. "Lori!"

Then, from the trees, Lori and the rest of the group revealed themselves, as they were trying to find Andrea. Lilly's stomach dropped as she ran over to Lori. How could she break the horrible news? It was like her tongue was tangled up and she couldn't get the words out. She couldn't even find the words to say it.

"Lori?" Maggie asked, riding up closer on her horse. "Lori Grimes?" To which, Lori nodded.

"There's been an accident," Maggie explained. Lori's eyes made Lilly feel devastated. It was like a ghost crept up and slipped into Lori. The expression on her face ripped Lilly's heart out of her chest.

"Carl's been...shot," Lilly mumbled.

"We have to go," Maggie ordered. "Now."

Lori climbed on the horse, behind Maggie, much to Daryl's protest. He didn't know her, nobody did. Nobody except Lilly. But Lori didn't take no notice, she didn't have to. Her son had been shot and she needed to be with him. Him and her husband.

"It's alright, Daryl," Lilly assured him, as she clambered back on her horse. She was not heading back to the Greene house. She would have to, later. The group was surely going to see how Carl was doing and besides, Rick was their leader and whenever he went, they went. If she felt like being a good person, she'd stay with Daryl and the rest of them. She'd speak to Glenn, comfort Carol, glare at Andrea some more and maybe get to know Daryl (though somehow she didn't think they'd have much to say to each other). But she had a little niece to get back to, and there was only a few hours of daylight left. Walking would take too long and Jess would be petrified without Lilly.

Maggie's horse got her back to the highway in just a few minutes. She patted the horse a few times, making sure he was appreciated for the long trip he'd just been on, and hopped over onto the highway. _Straight to Jess._

Jess looked really worried when Lilly first seen her, biting her nails and her little knees were shaking. Lilly ran over and wrapped her in a tight hug as Jess grinned and wouldn't stop talking.

"Alright. Alright, slow down. Are you okay?" Lilly sat on the gravel with her and Jess played around with Lilly's hair, tying it in knots. Lilly would have a tough time sorting that out later on.

"I'm okay. I was helping Dale with the big car!" Jess said proudly.

"It's called an RV. Has everything been alright here?"

"Yep! There was no walkers or anything!" Jess paused and seemed to be remembering something. "There was a lot of shouting though. I didn't like it."

"Shouting?" Lilly asked, annoyed. Was looking after a six-year-old without hassle so hard?

"Yeah. T-Dog was shouting and then he told Dale to go. He said we should all get in the..." she thought about what Lilly had said a few seconds ago. "...the RV and leave."

"Is that right?" Dale allowed that? Lilly thought T-Dog was a nice guy, but then again, she hadn't really spoken to him at all since they got here but he didn't seem like trouble. It just goes to how that you should get to know someone before leaving your niece in their care. "Hey, look what we're gonna' have a ride on."

Jess spotted the horse and gasped. She loved horses. She used to go to horse-riding lessons with her mom before all this went down. She rushed over to pet it, with a warning from Lilly to stay in sight.

Lilly walked briskly over to Dale. "What the hell has T-Dog been shouting about?"

Dale's eyebrows furrowed. "It was nothing really. He just found...a few things to take the edge off."

"Drugs?!" Lilly gritted her teeth.

"Not _necessarily._"

Lilly spotted the pack of whatever it was on the RV hood. "You let him smoke that while you were looking after Jess?"

"I didn't let him! I didn't know, I took them away as soon as I found out. He wasn't shouting that much, he was just talking a load of rubbish because he wasn't...thinking straight."

"He was high, you mean."

"I don't think he was..."

Andrea, Daryl, Carol and Glenn arrived back at this point. Carol stayed with Jess and the horse while the other three watched Dale and Lilly argue like it was a show or something.

"I'll tell you what, Dale. That is the _last _time I ever let _you _look after my niece. That's the last time I trust you with anything."

As she stalked off, Andrea smirked. She was loving this, wasn't she? "Yeah, it's different when he does something to annoy you, isn't it?"

Lilly turned around and shoved her hard against the RV. This was a risk, and she knew it. She had a feeling that if anyone suspected trouble out of her, she'd get a warning or something. Was this group the type that had a 'three strikes and you're out' policy or something? She highly doubted it, but she didn't really care. Lilly gripped Andrea's shirt and repeatedly shoved her against the RV door. "Don't talk to me. Don't even look my way. Don't talk to Jess and do _not _think you have any right to make a comment about anything I do or say, do you hear me?" She dug her nails into Andrea's shoulders until somebody slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her back. It was Daryl.

"Maybe you should go on back ta that chick's house. An' we'll follow ya down there."

Lilly nodded and walked past everybody to reach Carol and Jess. Jess was shaking again, and Lilly guessed she had heard everything. She thanked Carol for staying with her and lifted her onto the horse. Jess wouldn't speak to her for the whole ride back to the Greene house.

* * *

"Where's Shane?" Lilly asked Lori, when she got there.

"Hershel needs more equipment to..." she swallowed the lump in her throat and carried on. "...operate on Carl. He won't be able to breathe on his own otherwise."

She wiped her eyes with her hands as Lilly gave her shoulder a little squeeze for comfort. She walked in to see Carl in the exact same position as earlier. White, cold, he already looked like he had passed. Rick was pacing round the bedroom, despite Lori's attempts to make him sit down. He was on edge and his forehead was creased.

"They should have been back long before now. It's gonna' be dark soon," Rick nearly fell over.

"Sit down!" Lori ordered. "You've given too much blood. You need to sit down."

Rick did as his wife said and tried to suppress the tears. "Something's gone wrong. If Shane doesn't make it, Carl doesn't..." Rick and Lori embraced each other as they thought about the outcomes of Shane's supply run. The supply run that looked like it had gone down south.

Jess was playing with Hershel's youngest daughter, Beth. Hershel and Patricia were checking on Carl. Maggie was upstairs, she guessed, sorting out bedding for her guests. Lilly took some extra ammo from a backpack that had been tossed onto the floor and slipped out, thinking she had gone unnoticed. However, she didn't know that she had been seen. And that person that seen her followed her out and managed to follow her to the school without giving themselves away. The school that was overrun with walkers. Somebody had followed her out on an extremely dangerous supply run.

* * *

**AN: Dun, dun, DUN! Hahahaha, I hoped you enjoyed. Please review:) I posted this chapter quickly to make up for taking ages to post the last one. Chapter 6 will also be posted soon too!:)**


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, but I have had SO many exams this week, you wouldn't even believe it. It's also quite short and I'm sorry about that too, but I PROMISE YOU the next chapter will be longer and I'll post it quicker. I'll even set myself a deadline for Friday or before that. I would put it as Wednesday but I have more exams so, you know!:( Thanks for any new followers and to anyone who favourited - it means a lot:) And thanks to any reviews:_

runaway-zebra- I love the new name! Thanks for reviewing. I love Maggie too! But she mentioned to Hershel that she was a brat when she was fourteen because he married Annette, and that all she wanted to do was smoke and shoplift. So I thought, why not add torturing Lilly to the mix? Hahahaha, I like to put twists on things. But seriously, thanks for reviewing!

princesspenguin14- You won't even see this till you reach this chapter but, thanks for the review. I noticed that people are reading without reviewing so I'm alright with it. For now anyways, hahahaha:) Thanks for reading and reviewing and I hope you get a chance to read the rest!

_Sorry again guys, hope you enjoy!_

LOVE YOU ALL FOR READING.

I'm sure you all know by now that I own nothing but Lilly and little Jess:)

* * *

Chapter 6.

Lilly fell to her knees as she quietly disposed of a walker. It had crept up on her from behind and she had panicked, but she managed to slip her knife out and deal with the problem without a large amount of loud noise. If she made a single loud noise, it would draw attention to her and she would be a goner. There were _so _many walkers, too many to count, that it scared her. She was trying to help save Carl, but she might not even return herself.

When Lilly arrived, a dim glow was all that was left of some flares and she was kneeling against a police car that's hood had been opened. There was nothing left inside of it. _Shane and Otis_, she thought. A bit of light was shining from inside a side door in the school where the medicines were kept. Lilly guessed that's where Shane and Otis were getting the medical supplies for Carl. She didn't know what to do about the situation. What _could _she do? From Lilly's point of view, there was only a couple of options. One - she could sit out here, like live bait until they opened the door and then she could carry some of the stuff. Or two - she could run over there now and let herself in and help them fight off the walkers later.

She decided on number one, because perhaps it wasn't as stupid as she would have thought. Maybe she could lure the walkers away to give the two guys a chance to escape. They didn't know that the flare light had faded away and the walkers were getting less and less attracted to it. Lilly had a flashlight in her backpack. God, she had everything you needed for survival in the backpack. She knew it wasn't right, but she stocked up when she was at the Greene house. Who knew if Rick's group were going to be staying there after Carl was feeling better. _If _Carl ever felt better. Lilly shook the dark thoughts out of her head. Carl was going be just fine - that was what Lilly was here to make sure of.

She dug into her backpack to fetch her torch when something snapped behind her. Without a second thought, she dropped the backpack and gripped her knife. Swinging around she brought her hand up, ready to kill. But there was nobody behind her. Not even a walker. But she had definitely heard something, so the fact that she couldn't pinpoint the source made her uneasy.

Lilly spun back around to see the door of the school swing open and witness Shane and Otis run, followed by every walker in sight.

"Damn it!" She loaded her gun and chased after them.

It was hard to see exactly where Shane and Otis were, but Lilly went after the sound of the walkers. She rounded a corner and there were dozens of them, pressed against a gate, growling and shoving their arms through the gaps. Lilly halted and gasped. The two guys had managed to fend them off up to that point and now they were relatively safe for the time being. She wasn't sure how long that gate was going to hold for though. A few stragglers spotted her and started to amble towards her and she met with her knife again after a brief separation. Her knife was like her best friend, with the power to protect her. What more would somebody want in the apocalypse?

Lilly done a headcount - only three walkers were after her. Three walkers that just so happened to be very close together which would make it harder to get rid of each one separately. She drove her knife into the first rotten walker and kicked it to the ground and she ripped it back out and prepared for the next one. The second walker growled at her and reached out to grab her. Lilly dodged the corpse and the walker fell down, so Lilly stomped hard on its head with her boot. She wasn't prepared for the third. It came from behind and Lilly and the dead guy toppled over, with her knife sliding out of her reach. On the ground, she backed away as the walker began crawling towards her, hungry.

Lilly had no other option but to grab her gun and aim for the head. She fired one bullet, the sound ringing in her ears and probably a hell of a lot more walkers. The dead that was banging at the gate a few seconds ago were now attracted to the sound and saw a fresh meal. Their first meal was trapped and here was another, laying on the ground in the open. Easy.

"Oh, God," Lilly cursed, reclaiming her knife and picking herself up. Then there was nothing else to do but run.

* * *

Carol was comforting Lori, despite how much she didn't want to. She felt for Carl and the two other members of the Grimes family, but she blamed Lori for this. _She _allowed Carl to go, and Rick was a lot more hesitant. Granted, she didn't know what was going to happen but it _was _her decision. What if Carl hadn't been shot, and they kept on with the search? What if Sophia was around the area they were searching? What if she was found?

Carol gave Lori an encouraging smile as she stood up and walked out into the lounge. She wrapped her arms around herself and scanned the room. The doctor's eldest daughter, Maggie, was fixing up T-Dog's arm with Patricia. His youngest daughter was sitting with her boyfriend, chatting but neither was smiling. Glenn had walked up and was now by Carol's side, talking to her. He was repeating himself, wondering why Carol wasn't listening. She was vaguely aware that he was asking about Carl but she was just staring at Beth. Roughly fifteen minutes ago, Beth had been playing with Jess and now she was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Lilly.

She guessed it was possible that Jess was with Lilly, but she knew enough about Lilly to know that she wouldn't risk taking her small niece out in the dark. If she left Jess under Beth's care, she must have trusted her. But Lilly had only known Beth for five minutes. _Oh, Christ._

"Where's Jess?" Carol asked, her concern coming across as anger. Her voice raised. "Where is she?"

"Sorry?" Beth blinked, innocently.

"The little girl who was playing with you. Where is she?" Carol repeated.

"I - I'm not sure. She ran off - I thought she was with her mom."

"That is not her mom. That is her aunt, and she is gonna' go crazy if Jess doesn't show up."

Beth bit her lip and looked around but Jess was not in the lounge. "She'll be 'round here somewhere."

Carol, Beth, Glenn and Jimmy searched the house for the little girl. Now two little girls were missing, and one of them was half the other one's age and a lot more vulnerable. Also, Carol didn't even want to think of how mad Lilly would be if Jess was missing and she shuddered at the thought of how she would take it out on the rest of the group.

"She's not here, Carol," Glenn spoke.

"Oh. My. God." Carol felt sick as she slumped down on the armchair. She rested her head in her hands, cursing.

"I don't mean to be rude but..." Glenn started, and it made Carol look up. "Um, why do you care?"

Carol sighed in exasperation. "Jesus, Glenn. I know how it feels when your daughter goes missing."

"That's the thing though," Glenn mumbled, awkwardly. "Jess isn't that girl's daughter."

"There isn't much of a difference. It probably feels like it to her! I feel sorry for her."

"Listen," Glenn exhaled. "She'll with her aunt, Lilly, is it? I wouldn't be surprised if she's decided to take her somewhere else. Don't worry 'bout it."

Carol nodded as Glenn walked away.

* * *

"You saved our god damn asses out there," Shane panted.

They met up as they rounded a corner and nearly knocked each other unconscious and all three of them had run into the gym in the school. Otis had jumped down one way, drawing the walkers in that direction. Shane and Lilly were planning to jump out smaller windows the opposite side and meet Otis later on. She wasn't supposed to, but Lilly had to take a moment to catch her breath. "It wasn't my intention to bring them all down on me, near got myself killed out there. You're welcome."

"Did they send you?" Shane asked, resting his head back on the wall.

Lilly shook her head and swallowed. "Carl ain't getting any better and they started panicking. I snuck away to come get you both, tell you to hurry your asses up."

It wasn't at all the moment to be joking, but Shane laughed and jumped down. He turned around and Lilly guessed he was offering help, but Lilly swiftly jumped down by herself, landing perfectly on her feet and followed him up the stairs to the window. They both chucked their backpacks out into the night, onto the grass and got ready to clamber out. Shane went first, taking deep breaths as he prepared for the fall. Lilly kicked a walker that had followed them up back down the stairs as Shane let go of the ledge. Lilly heard him groan in pain and leant over the window.

"Shane!" she whispered. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine, but god, my leg hurts like hell. C'mon."

Lilly was so bothered about getting down as safe as she could, that she was completely oblivious to the fact that another walker had appeared and was directly behind her. She jumped as it moaned and she spun round. Lilly fought with the walker and pushed it to the side. It fell over, giving Lilly enough time to grab her gun from the back of her pants. She panicked, stumbling back as she shot the walker, but at the same time, she fell back out the open window.

"Shit!" Lilly landed on her back and had hit her head pretty badly on the wall. She brought her hand up to the back of her head and when she looked at it, her fingers were dripping with blood. "Oh, Jesus."

Shane helped her up and they moved forward, each of them asking about the other's welfare every few minutes or so. Lilly's vision started to become a bit hazy as she made slow progress towards the car. "Where the hell is Otis?"

"I got no idea. But we got incomin'."

Walkers were heading for them, and Lilly raised her gun. Her blurry vision prevented her from making head shots and she missed her target every time. Shane managed to get two of them directly between the eyes but then he was out of ammo and there was still one more roaming, and it was creeping closer. Lilly tried once more, considering she only had one bullet left. She blinked a few times but it made no difference to her vision. She held her breath to keep the gun steady and fired.

It hit the walker in the shoulder and stalled it for a moment and Shane scoffed. "Shane, I can hardly...see." She clutched her head and coughed.

There was another two gun shots, and it made Lilly reopen her eyes. Otis had shot the walker in front of them and was now with them, and the three of the them was heading for the car. That was when the giant lot came. Lilly reloaded her gun and helped the guys shoot the walkers down, but she didn't know what good it did. Lilly had a guess that she took about three walkers out, and missed maybe five others. Shane and Otis shot about seven each dead until they reached their last bullet.

"I'm out," Otis shouted, worried, as he shot his last bullet at a nearby walker.

"I...can't..." Lilly took a few deep breaths before slumping to the floor. Her head hurt like crazy and she couldn't really make out anything. She closed her eyes.

She heard a gun shot and a man scream, but she couldn't make out who it was. She felt someone pull her up and support her weight as they pulled her along. Then she heard a high-pitched scream of somebody young and female before she completely blacked out.

* * *

**AN: **Like I said, it was short, but I hope you liked it. Last chapter, I said the next one would be up quick, which clearly didn't work out. But I promise I will get Chapter 7 up before the weekend! I promise! Please review:)

OH GUYS. I HAD AN IDEA. To pair up Lilly with one of our fabulous men from TWD. I have ideas for most guys, you know, the obvious. Daryl, Shane, Glenn. I do have ways for each of them. But I have none for Rick, and I don't really want them two to go together. So please let me know what you think about each guy with Lilly! I know you haven't seen much interaction between many of the guys but I just want you to think about which guy would go well with Lilly, with her being her.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi_ guys! I can't thank you enough for reading, following, favouriting, reviewing, whatever you've been doing, I appreciate it so much! I am so happy with the amount of new followers and reviews I got, you can't imagine how happy I was about that! I did promise that this chapter would be longer, and I think it is, considering the amount of words:) I'm trying not to ramble on in this bit, because I do that a lot hahahaha. So a huge thank you to _runaway-zebra, HermioneandMarcus, mrskaz453, Goldenfightergirl, golden-priestess & Gleggie.. _my reviewers for the last chapter! And again, those who followed and favourited and read, I'll shut up now, here's Chapter 7! A lot of dialog, I had a lot of ideas for conversation so I hope you don't mind._

LOVE YOU ALL.

* * *

_Chapter 7. _

Lilly woke up to Maggie looming over her and, for a moment, she felt as if she was reliving her teenage days again. But then the sunlight shone in from the curtain, and Lilly flinched. She looked around her, and saw the décor of the familiar Greene house. She groaned as she propped herself up against the headboard. Her vision became clear as Maggie's dad came in.

"How're you feeling just now?" he asked, checking her pulse.

"I'm...okay. Just a little groggy."

"That's to be expected. You haven't eaten anything for a while now."

"What?" Lilly asked. "How long have I been out?"

"A few days. This would have been the third."

Lilly kicked the covers back and hurried to get out of bed. She hated not be up and doing something, she hated the feeling of laziness. As soon as she stood up, the room started spinning and she fell over. Hershel and Maggie picked her up and sat her on the bed, and Maggie handed her a glass of water. "Why the hell are _you _helping _me_?"

Hershel stood there, confused. _He doesn't know, _Lilly guessed. How could he not, though?

"Whatever," Lilly blinked a few times, recollecting the events from the days she was awake. "Oh, God. How is Shane?"

"Ah," Hershel grimaced. "You remember then?"

"Yeah, yeah. I remember."

"So you remember...Otis losing his life?"

"What?" The last thing she remembered of Otis is that he saved her life. Shane's too. He put down several walkers when they were trying to escape. What the hell happened?

"Shane said," Hershel narrowed his eyebrows, a question in his eyes. "That he was taken by the sick ones."

Lilly was so shocked that she didn't even realize what he had called the walkers. There was so much stuff that she didn't know, a big gap between three days ago and right now. She was barely on her feet and she didn't know anything that had happened the past few days. She had to rely on Hershel's information.

"Is Carl..."

"The medical supplies saved his life. He'll pull through by the end of the week."

Lilly closed her eyes and sighed in relief. What else?

"And Sophia?"

"The little girl?" Lilly nodded as a confirmation. "Still missing."

"God, really? How's Carol holding up?"

"I'm not sure. The group's set up outside, and we haven't really spoke much the past few days, with myself being so busy with Carl."

Lilly pushed herself up and started to head outside, using her hands against the wall as a guide to keep her steady. She was dressed in the same thing from the night at the school. As the opened the farmhouse door, fresh air filled her lungs and she took a deep breath. It felt nice to be in the open air after days in a bed. Lilly could clearly see the camp set up in the trees and some of the group sitting on deck chairs outside of them. She stumbled over, wrapping her jacket around herself. She hadn't eaten for a while so she was frail and weak.

Shane saw her first and jumped up to help her walk. His head had been shaved and Lilly smirked. "Nice hair. Or should I just say head."

"Don't like it?" he smiled and Lilly blushed.

"It looks wonderful on you, don't worry." She winced as she moved too quickly and the back of her head throbbed.

"Hey, don't go strainin' yourself," he took her arm and guided her towards the rest of them. Glenn whispered to Rick and he looked over and worry seemed to take over his face. He sighed and joined Shane in making sure she got to a chair to sit down. He stooped down beside her.

"Hey, Lilly. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Rick."

"Are you sure you shouldn't be back inside? Resting up?" Something about his tone made Lilly think he was trying to hide something from her.

"I've been resting for the past three days, I just want to go back to the way things were. I'm not some sort of invalid - don't treat me like it." She stopped, surprised at how she snapped at Rick.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's fine. I'm just really cranky," she tried a smile but it didn't reach her eyes. She looked around, wanting to see her favourite little face but she didn't see it out there. "Oh. Is Jess with Carol?"

Nobody spoke. Lilly's stomach tightened as Shane rubbed a hand across his shaved head. Rick looked around, avoiding Lilly's glare before he had to look back at her. "There's been a situation..."

Lilly felt sick as she noticed, for the first time, that it was awfully quiet. Too quiet. Jess would be making every noise possible, unless you told her not to. The group wouldn't tell her to do anything, they can't order her around. She'd be hassling Dale or talking to Carol, maybe even annoying Carl and telling him to play with her. Whatever she would be doing, she wouldn't keep quiet with so much open land to play on. But Lilly had only just realised this.

"Where is she?" she whispered, swallowing down the lump in her throat. She cleared her throat. "Where?"

"We thought...we thought you left with her."

"I wouldn't do that without telling you, what the hell do you take me for? Where is she, Rick?" her voice shook as she asked again.

"We think...she followed you. To the school."

"I left her with Hershel's daughter! Why would she follow me out into the dark?" She was asking herself that question rather than Rick but considering she didn't know the answer, she let Rick speak.

"We're not sure. Beth said that she went to grab a drink for her, and when she came back, Jess had ran off."

"Oh my God," Lilly whispered. She started shaking as she brought her head to her head. "What have you been doing?"

"We've been looking for her ever since. Her and Sophia. Daryl went out on one of the horses a while ago."

Lilly got up, still shaking, fighting back tears. She couldn't protect Jess before she met this group, and even with them she had gone missing. For three days. How could a six-year old survive three days alone? Lilly ran back to the house, ignoring anything that she felt that told her to stop. She burst into the bedroom, where Maggie and Hershel were still talking and making up the bed. Her backpack was on the floor and it hadn't been touched. She picked it up, not saying a word to the elder or the younger woman and headed back out. She ran out into the woods, ignoring Rick and Shane calling her name.

She was going to find Jess.

* * *

Creeping out from behind a huge tree, Jess shivered. She'd be lucky enough to find help since she accepted that she was lost. She wasn't sure where Lilly was headed when she followed her out, but it felt like her aunt was neglecting her lately, but she didn't seem to notice. Lilly had been busy, and to Jess it felt like she was too busy to care for her anymore. As if she left it up to Carol and Dale. All Jess wanted to do was help and spend time with Lilly. She thought sneaking out after her would let her do that.

But it just terrified her. Nothing could take back the things she saw, and felt. The constant hunger and the never-ending fear that she was feeling ever since the incident with the school. She was somewhere in the woods, and her companion was with her and they were trying to find their way back.

The moment she lost Lilly was when she ran around a corner, following a group of 'them dead things', as Jess classed them. She tried to go a different way but she just ended up going round in circles. Jess thought she was being brave, considering she only screamed once. That was when she bumped into her friend. She thought it was a dead thing and that she would never see her aunt again. But it was only a girl, a lot older than herself, and from then on Jess was just on this new girl's tail, like a lost puppy.

Except for now. Her friend had ran off into the lake, because they had spotted a few of them dead things. Her friend wanted to hide in the lake but Jess was scared of the water. Even she knew that running in and splashing would make too much noise and she was half the age of this new girl.

Jess had been standing there for about five minutes now, and it was relatively quiet. No sign of any of the dead. She peered out to the lake and there was also no sign of her friend.

"Sophia?" she whispered.

As she turned back around, there Sophia was, but she was all wet and Jess wasn't sure if it was water or sweat. But there was something different about her. The left side of her neck had a huge hole in it, and it was pouring with blood. Sophia noticed Jess staring and covered her neck up with her hand.

"We have to find my mom."

"When did you lose her?" Jess asked which Sophia smiled at. A smile, for the first time in about six days. It was such a stupid thing to say, but it made Sophia smile.

"I didn't lose her. She lost me. We were all together but I got scared and ran away."

"Oh." Jess wasn't aware of what had happened to Sophia and why she was in such a hurry to see her mom.

"I haven't seen my mom for _ages and ages and ages and ages_."

"Is that right?" Sophia asked, but she wasn't really listening.

"But that's okay. Carol says my mommy can still see me, from up there," Jess smiled, pointing up. Sophia stopped in her tracks and knelt down, staring at Jess.

"Carol? That's...that's my mom!"

"Really?" Jess grinned. "Yay!"

"Where are they?"

"She's at this _big_ farm, we all are. And my aunt, she ran off and then I got lost and started crying." Jess stuck her lip out stubbornly as she remembered. "But I dunno where the farm is."

Sophia grunted and walked off, at a pace that Jess struggled to keep up with. Jess thought she was just walking very fast, but Sophia started to dislike the younger girl, she was no use at all. She never did like kids that was younger than her, and that needed more care. She didn't want to care for this 'stupid little girl', as she started to class her. Maybe getting away from her would be better - she might have a better chance of finding her mom that way, and saying goodbye.

"Sophia!" Jess moaned. "You're going too fast!"

Sophia started running, guilt tugging at her mind but she wouldn't have to deal with that guilt in a few hours. She ran faster and faster until she couldn't her the little light footsteps of Jess any and then she slowed back down. Sophia looked around her but Jess was nowhere to be seen. She smiled - thank God.

But Jess had fell over, and she was far behind Sophia now. She would never be able to catch up to her. Jess was officially on her own. She was also on the edge of a mountain, and down there was the lake that Sophia had been hiding before, and where she had also dropped her doll. Jess didn't bother getting up. She just knelt on the grass and started to sob for her aunt. For her mom. For anyone who would come and rescue her now.

* * *

Lilly was out of breath, but that couldn't stop her from running. Her legs hurt like crazy and she needed to stop right now, but that didn't stop her from running. Her head throbbed so damn much and if she didn't slow down or stop, she would surely collapse again. But, guess what? That didn't stop her from running. She was turning her head every few seconds from side to side, scanning the area.

"JESS!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "JESS!"

It hurt her throat and the rapid pace of her run finally started to affect her. She slowed down and leaned against a tree, struggling to breathe. She pulled a bottle of water out from her backpack and took a few sips. _Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. _She kept repeating this to herself, getting herself together. She had to prepare herself to start running again. Leaves rustled behind her and she was up in a second. Lilly pondered whether to pull her knife out. What if it was Jess and the first thing she saw was a huge knife and it frightened her? Then Lilly would have lost her all over again. But what if it was a walker, and it came at her while she wasn't properly armed. Lilly took a few steps back as the leaves continued to rustle. Whatever it was, it was way too big to be Jess. Lilly could just about make the shape of the silhouette and then she almost laughed. She walked over and reached out.

"Come here, girl." She petted a huge chestnut horse and whispered to it. "Do you know where Jess is?"

It was one of Hershel's horses, and it was saddled and properly suited for a ride. She remembered Rick saying that Daryl had went out on a horse. Lilly looked around and called out his name but there was no sign of the crossbow-carrying redneck. Lilly tugged on the horses reins and started to search again. She couldn't run while guiding the horse but she did pick up the pace and started to speed-walk. She broke out of the trees and almost fell into a lake, when she noticed that the water was tinted red with blood. Her eyes followed the trail of blood until she seen Daryl sprawled on the ground, two dead walkers by his side.

Lilly walked through the water, until her walk turned into a swim, and joined Daryl on the other side. "Well, what the hell happened to you?" Lilly smirked.

"God damn horse threw me," he grunted, nodding over in the direction of the horse.

"No way. He's harmless."

"He better pray I dun' kill 'im when I get ma hands on 'im."

Lilly didn't bother sitting down next to him. "Any sign of my niece?"

"Not yet."

Lilly chewed on her lip until she drew blood. She turned around, so Daryl couldn't see her eyes well up with tears. Her nails swapped places with her lips, as she started biting them instead. What would she do without her niece? She imagined her holed up in a dark small hole, like the place Rick left Sophia. Hungry, lonely, cold. It would be horrible to be alive like that. Maybe she wasn't even alive. Maybe she was dead, or...worse. What if Jess was a walker?

That was when the tears spilled over. She couldn't handle this. She tried taking twenty deep breaths but it didn't work. She felt the urge to...to...

"JESS!" she shouted so loud, straining her voice. She needed to do this. Whatever was inside of her, anger, fear, guilt, sadness. This is how she wanted to get it out. She stretched out Jess' name, just one word lasting for about thirty seconds until she stopped. Lilly couldn't bear the idea of showing how weak she could be, especially not in front of Daryl, the one who seemed the strongest. But, she couldn't hide it anymore. She fell to her knees and sobbed until she felt the presence of someone beside her.

"Ya okay?" Daryl asked. He didn't want to touch her. Frankly, he didn't think she would appreciate it, nor did he want to even attempt it.

"Perfect," Lilly snapped sarcastically, back on her feet now.

"I get it," Daryl mumbled. "I spent a while, lookin' for ma brother. In Atlanta, Rick handcuffed 'im to a roof. Dumbass cut his own hand off an' ran. Couldn't find 'im."

"That's gotta suck."

"For me or Merle?"

"Both."

Daryl scoffed, kicking the gravel. "Jackass prob'ly deserved it."

Lilly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and tried to comfort Daryl with a smile. Hell, she was probably trying to comfort herself too.

Everything was quiet. Daryl seemed comfortable with it, and Lilly would normally be too. But she wanted to hear more than the wind making the leaves rustle, and the horse sighing. More than the few birds that were left singing and the insects chirping. The peaceful sound of the forest when there wasn't walkers everywhere. She didn't want to her the sound of her heart beating in her ears, didn't want to listen to Daryl preparing his crossbow. But then the sound that she had longed for finally came.

* * *

"Aunt Lilly?"

Jess' smile was so wide that her jaw ached. She had been crying on the edge and she heard somebody scream her name. A familiar voice. When she peeked over the top, she saw a man standing next to a woman. When that woman turned around, Jess suddenly felt safe, and called her aunt's name.

"Jess!" Lilly breathed.

Her niece was up there, and she had heard her and, God, it was such a relief.

"Stay there, okay? We're coming to get you, me and Daryl."

Jess nodded happily. She didn't care if they took an hour to get back up here. At least they knew where she was. At least _she _knew she was going to be safe again.

A growl came from the trees as a walker emerged. Jess screamed. She recognized that face, that short hair, that gaping hole in the side of her neck. It was Sophia, but she wasn't herself.

"No! Go away!" Jess cried.

Lilly panicked. She didn't know how far away the walker was, she was too far down to see. "C'mon!" Daryl shouted, as he beckoned her to run back across the lake and round the forest up to the top.

"We ain't got time! Help me up!" Lilly ordered. "Come on!" Daryl lifted her up and she pushed off his shoulder, gripping the rocks and making her way up. It was a struggle and her nails loosened and started to bleed but she persevered. She reached the top, but not in the perfect timing she had hoped for. The walker had gotten closer, but Jess couldn't wait any longer. She ran off to the left, closely followed by the walker. Lilly pushed herself onto the top and steadied herself before she took off running. She thought she would get to Jess, get rid of the walker and then return to Hershel's farm, safe. But, of course, something had to get in the way. Her head. Her head started aching again, and the forest spun before she collided with the ground. A minute or so later, she opened her eyes, thankful that she was only out for a few moments. Her knife had slid out of her boot and her other weapons were in her backpack that she'd left with Daryl. Lilly began searching for her knife when she was interrupted.

"Aunt Lilly! Help!" Jess begged, from the distance.

So Lilly ran. Until she seen Jess struggling to keep her distance from the walker. Lilly charged at it, knocking it to the floor with her shoulder. The walker got up before Lilly had a chance to connect her boot with its head. All Lilly could do to the walker was deliver aggressive pushes and keep repeating it. She pushed it further and further away until they came to another edge. Lilly pushed the walker down into the creek and ran back to Jess.

"Are you okay?" she knelt down and hugged Jess tight.

Jess was shaken but returned the hug. "Sophia," she wept.

Then it hit her. Could she tell Carol that she had witnessed her daughter, as a walker? That she had practically lead her walker daughter to her second death? She would hate Lilly. If anybody found out that Jess was with Sophia, they would chuck them out for sure. Probably. Possibly. Lilly didn't know what had gone on, but would they have expected Jess to get Sophia home? She was only six, for crying out loud!

"Jess, listen to me. We keep this to ourselves, okay? Our little secret. Do not tell anyone you were with Sophia, alright?"

Daryl joined them then, and Lilly couldn't say anymore but Lilly put a finger to her lips and Jess went along with it, pretending to zip her mouth shut.

"You dropped this," Daryl said, handing Lilly her knife.

"Thank you."

"Ya girl okay?" Daryl asked.

"She will be," Lilly told her. They stood awkwardly for a while before Daryl nodded and lead the way back. All the way home, Lilly didn't let go of her niece.

* * *

Later that night, when Jess was fast asleep, Lilly ducked out of her tent. She wouldn't leave Jess for another minute if she didn't have something important to do.

She found Daryl, still awake, carving arrows down the field in his own little patch. He looked up at her as she arrived and nodded as a greeting. He seemed to have a habit of that.

"I just came to say... thank you. For searching for her. For helping me."

"No big deal," Daryl shrugged.

"It is. You're a good man, Daryl. And, now probably one of Jess' favourites." Lilly thought she saw a hint of a smile, but then again the dark could be playing tricks on her.

"Great."

Lilly coughed. "One of mine, too." She stood awkwardly before deciding what to do. She placed her hand on his, and tried a smile. Then, she quickly turned away before he could pull away and briskly walked off.

It was pitch black, but she felt like she was glowing bright red. She fell over her own words as she bumped into Shane on the way back.

"Hi, hey. Um, what're you doing?"

Shane laughed. "What are _you _doin'? Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"I'm just gonna' go on watch in a sec."

"Oh, I'll join you? We have a few things to talk about..." Lilly offered. She wanted answers about the night of the school events.

"That'd be nice. I'm lookin' forward to it."

What the hell did he mean by that? It seemed like _he _blushed red too, as he slid past her and climbed up the RV ladder to start watch. What was going on with everybody today? Especially her. Her emotions were crazily mixed up and she wasn't thinking straight. That had to be it, surely.

She kissed Jess' forehead before going back out into the darkness.

She had a lot of things to sort out now.

* * *

**AN: **I am SO disappointed with the last two parts. From 'Aunt Lilly' I am really disappointed. They were rushed because, guess what? I just remembered I have ANOTHER exam I need to study for so it was a bit rushed and lacked detail but I promised it would be up by tonight so I kept my promise. I'M SORRY. :(

Update expected by Sunday/Monday.:)

Please review:)


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey guys! This chapter is going to be pretty short I know what you're thinking! And I'm sorry. I need to get used to updating regularly and doing longer chapters and stuff. But, like I've been saying I've had so many end of year exams this week. Just when I think I've finished, I get 4 more to study for. 4 MORE. I have one first thing tomorrow morning, but I thought 'Hey, I'll update, considering I said it would be up!" Also, I went through my chapters and corrected any grammar/spelling mistakes:)_

THANKS. LOVE YOU.

* * *

_Chapter 8. _

"What's wrong?" Shane called quietly, from the top of the RV.

Lilly nibbled on her lip. "I don't know whether I should leave her on her own."

She stared in the tent as Jess, fast asleep, her blonde curls spread out on the pillow. Lilly thought her niece's curls would have grown out by now, but they seemed to be sticking around for a while.

"She'll be just fine. Besides, I ain't gonna' let you sit up her with me all night," Shane smiled. "You need some rest."

"Ha," Lilly scoffed, making her way up the ladder. "The last thing I need is rest. I missed two and half days, if you don't remember."

"Oh, I remember," Shane turned away from her, awkwardly.

"What's up?"

"Nothin'."

"Shane, come on!" Lilly pulled up an extra deck chair and sat besides him, with one of the shotguns lay next to her. Shane's shotgun sat next to him ever so faithfully on the opposite side. It never left him.

Shane sighed and rubbed his head. "It's just that, when you were out, I forgot about all that stuff that happened at the school. Now you're awake and it won't leave my head."

At the moment, Lilly felt so uncomfortable sitting there, because being there made Shane think horrible things and she didn't want to be the reason for that. She pushed her chair back and went to stand up when Shane caught her hand. "Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't. But, clearly, I'm offending you so goodnight."

But Shane didn't let go of her hand. She understood that he was just trying to make up for his comment, but she couldn't help but blush when he pulled her back down. It was like he actually wanted her presence. But then again, it might not exactly be _her_ company he was longing for. Maybe he just didn't want to be alone. Lilly sighed and made herself comfortable in the chair again.

"I'm not staying for long."

"So what'd you come up 'ere for?" Shane narrowed his eyebrows. What did he expect? Did he think she came up here to spend time with me in the romantic atmosphere of the moonlight? Lilly almost burst out laughing at her own thought. It was so cliché. She wanted answers, not to spend time with him. Did she?

She shook her head and turned back around, to look at Shane. He had been looking at her facial expressions the whole time and now he looked seriously confused. He ran a hand across his shaved head and coughed.

"We had a...um...service for Otis," he turned his head to the right. "Planted a couple of big-ass rocks over there for his..."

It was like he didn't want to continue the conversation, which was weird because he brought the subject up. Which reminded Lilly...

"What happened?"

"Huh?"

"What happened?" Lilly repeated. "That night."

She sat up, as Shane still avoided meeting her eyes. Lilly reached a hand out to touch his arm, and it was shaking. Lilly jumped and pulled her hand back. She, of all people, knew what he had been through and, yes, it was a traumatic event to experience but surely he had been through a lot worse? Lilly had heard the stories. His best friend was shot at a hit-and-run crime and ended up in a coma. He had to fight his way out of Atlanta, for Christ's sake. They were a hell of a lot worse than the school. Even if your life flashed before your eyes several times, which it did, it was nothing compared to the hell it would have been to have people relying on you to get out of the cities. So, what the hell was wrong with Shane?

"You know what happened," Shane said. He cleared his throat. "Otis saved our asses and then he went down."

Then Lilly remembered something. Something she had heard before she went out.

"And then you put him out of his misery."

She thought she was right because Shane didn't answer her. She thought she'd hit a sensitive point and he thought what he did was wrong.

"Shane, it'll alright. You did a good thing..."

"No, it's just..." Shane was deep in thought for second before he shook his head. "Yeah. Thanks."

"So what's happened these past few days?"

Lilly looked around but there was no sign of anything dangerous. She checked behind her but she could still see her tent, the way she'd left it and could hear Jess lightly snoring away. She didn't think anyone was at risk, so she pulled her chair closer to Shane and sat back and smiled as he laughed.

"Nothin' much. T-Dog found a bloated walker in the well." Lilly frowned at the thought of T-Dog. The last time she came into contact with T-Dog, he got high while he was meant to be looking after Jess with Dale. But she supposed she could let that go. After all, it seemed like T-Dog was a genuine guy and everyone in the group seemed to love him.

"But, let's just say that the well can't be used anymore."

"Nice." Lilly wrinkled up her nose as she thought of all the possible outcomes that would have happened to that 'water walker'.

"And we just kept lookin' for Sophia."

Lilly blushed and looked away. "Oh right."

"You think she's still alive?" Shane questioned.

_Shit._

"Er, I dunno'. Maybe."

"You have to think about that?" Shane scoffed. "Rick's got us out chasin' ghost, I swear. That little girl is dead." Shane spat the last word out with anger.

"Shane, Jesus Christ. Did you actually say that to Rick?"

"The hell I did!" Shane exclaimed then lowered his voice. "But that's what I think."

"But you'll only tell me?" Lilly raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I know you ain't gonna judge."

Lilly laughed. "You don't even know me!"

"I know enough!" Shane argued.

"You've spoke to me, like, three times," Lilly said. "I doubt you know anything about me."

"Then you'd be wrong!"

The two laughed for a bit before they sat in awkward silence. Shane looked over a few times, cleared his throat, looked through the scope, but eventually he couldn't do anything but look at Lilly. Lilly didn't like this - she'd known the guy all of two minutes and she already felt like he was hitting on her, in some way. She pulled her jacket tighter wrong her and stood up.

"Goodnight, Shane," she whispered. He nodded in reply as she climbed down the ladder.

* * *

On the way back to her tent, she noticed something different. She swore to herself that she had zipped up the tent so Jess wouldn't get cold but now it was wide open. If that girl had run off again, Lilly would going to bite somebody's head off. She took off running, even though it was only a short distance. Lilly burst into the tent and heard a little scream. Jess had pulled the duvet up to her eyes and stared at her, frightened.

"God, Jess!" Lilly lay next to her, and pulled her in. "Why did you open the tent?"

"I had a nightmare. I woke up and I wanted to tell you, but you were gone." Jess stopped shivering as Lilly closed the tent again.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jess."

"You left me," Jess whimpered. Lilly's heart felt like it was about to break. She knew she shouldn't have left, but she didn't think that Jess would wake up in the space of ten minutes. _Typical, _Lilly thought. _Just my luck._

"I'm sorry. How long were you awake?"

"Five minutes."

"See? I wasn't that long. You should wait longer before you opened the tent. Remember - you don't know what's out there!"

"That's why I didn't shout you. I didn't want to make noise," she pouted as if she thought that she had done something wrong.

"Yeah, Jess. You did good," Lilly reassured her.

Jess smiled warmly and settled down to sleep. Lilly thought about her sister. Dead or alive, would she be proud of the way Lilly had cared for Jess? She was a big part of Jess' life before the apocalypse but Lilly's sister was a much better parent. She had more of a maternal way about her. Lilly never planned on having kids because, normally, she'd do anything to avoid playing with them. Jess never wanted to play whenever Lilly was babysitting. She'd just sit there, and maybe draw. All Lilly would have to do was feed her and talk to her, until eventually they grew closer. Jess was Lilly's best friend.

Then there was her brother-in-law. Now, he had _always _hated Lilly, and who knows why. They had never spoken a nice word to each other since they met - they just insulted each other. Lilly's sister would never take sides, even though she was Lilly's own flesh and blood. But it had never come up in conversation. If Lilly started complaining how she should ditch her husband because 'he was being mean to her sister' then that would be childish, and it would definitely start a god damn family feud.

* * *

She woke up to Jess' eyes blinking up at her. Lilly stretched, yawned, and clambered out of the tent after her niece, who had instantly started pestering Dale for her breakfast. She ran back excitedly, carrying a plastic bowl and devoured her food. Lilly made seriously awkward eye contact with Shane but looked away almost instantly. None of the other group members knew the conversation that happened between the pair last night but Rick smirked at Lilly's red face anyhow.

She stood up as Jess finished eating, and was met by Beth and her boyfriend. Jimmy nudged her forward as she looked at Lilly, guiltily.

"I'm real sorry about leaving your little niece. I...didn't expect her to run off like that. But it's totally my fault, an' I'm real sorry. Again."

Lilly thought of all the things she could say to this girl. Spiteful things, that would really upset her. But she was only seventeen, and Lilly had to remember that. It wasn't like Lilly hadn't made dozens of mistakes when she was Beth's age. More than anybody could count. So she smiled warmly at Beth and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Beth. But, if I leave Jess in your care again, I expect you to keep a proper eye on her next time, okay?" She wasn't sure when that would be, but she had to make sure Beth understood.

"Yes. Totally!" Beth smiled, appreciating the fact that she had been forgiven and tugged Jimmy away.

But Jimmy stayed in the same spot, staring at Lilly with a stupid grin on his face.

"Are you okay?" Lilly felt uncomfortable but it wasn't her mouth that the words came out of. The sound came from lower down and when she looked, Jess was standing there with an arched eyebrow on her face. She looked so funny, that Lilly had to bite her tongue to restrain from laughing. Jimmy blinked and it was like he hadn't looked dumbfounded by Lilly's presence for the last few seconds.

"Uh. Hershel wants to see you."

"He does?"

Jimmy nodded and finally let himself be pulled away by Beth, who had started to get impatient and repeatedly cleared her throat to try to get his attention. Lilly turned around and caught Jess trying to sneak away before she placed both hands on her shoulders.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think _you're _going, missy?" Lilly placed a hand on her hip and smirked.

"I want to go play," Jess stuck her lip out like a little kid and crossed her arms. "_Please._"

"After that little stunt you pulled, you are _not _leaving my sight, Jess," Lilly said. "Okay?"

"But that's just not _fair_!" Jess groaned and threw herself on the floor. Lilly put her head in her hands as Carol's head turned around to see what all the commotion was going on about. Lilly just couldn't meet Carol's eyes. Her face was burning as Carl began to advance towards Lilly.

"Jess, come on. You're being silly. You ran off the other night and now I can't let you go anywhere without me, okay?" Jess moaned on the ground, something about it being 'so unfair'.

"Typical kid tantrum?" Carol asked, standing next to Lilly. Her tongue was all tied up so Lilly just nodded. She was riddled with guilt, and she couldn't bring herself to have a conversation with the elder woman.

"Here, I'll look after her while you go speak to Hershel," Carol volunteered. Instantly, Jess got up and started nodding her head.

"Wow, Jess. I wonder if you agree," Lilly said sarcastically.

But what if Jess couldn't keep their little secret? Could Lilly really rely on a six-year-old to withhold information like this? Imagine if Sophia just came up in conversation. Lilly could just see it happening. Carol would say something like 'Sophia's gonna' love playing with you' and then Jess wouldn't be able to keep it in.

Lilly opened her mouth to reject her offer when Dale called over.

"I promise I'll look after her properly this time. Come on! I got her favourite fruit!" he tried to persuade her. Lilly couldn't help but smile as Jess ran over to Dale at the sight of peaches. How excitable a child could be at seeing a peach made her laugh.

"Be good!" Lilly called as she headed off to see the veterinarian.

* * *

"Hey, Hershel. You wanted to see me?" Lilly asked. It felt like she was a kid again and she was going to the principal's office but she shook the idea out of her head.

"How you feeling?" Hershel asked.

"Good. A lot better, actually."

"That's great."

They stood in silence as Hershel tended to his animals and Lilly took a look at the view.

"This farm is beautiful, Hershel. You've done a good job of keeping it so perfect."

"It's hardly perfect. But, I appreciate it."

That's when Lilly remembered the conversation they'd had yesterday.

"Hey. What did you call the walkers yesterday?"

"Sick." He had no shame in admitting it.

"You believe that?"

"Truly," he stopped to look at her. "In fact, those 'walkers' are what I called you here to talk about."

"Yeah?"

Hershel nodded solemnly.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me."

Jimmy and Hershel had walkers on sticks, and there was a circle around their neck. They couldn't grab either one of them if you get the stick pushed away from them. They were planning on putting them in the barn, insistent on the idea that they were curable. The worst thing was they wanted Lilly to be in on it too. No, the _worst _thing was they wanted her to keep it a secret from the rest of the group. The group that had been good to her, except letting Jess nearly get killed, these past few days.

"If you want to stay here, you've gotta pull your weight."

"I do pull my weight!"

"Well, you gotta pull some more!" Hershel snapped.

She took Hershel's 'grabber', as she had now named it, and pulled on the walker, as it snapped and growled at her from arms length. Hershel was crazy, but she did want to stay in the farm. For her safety and for Jess'.

"Pulled 'em out, every day. They get stuck in the creek, you see. I feed 'em in the barn until the government find a cure."

"That might be a while, Hershel," she said uneasily, struggling with the walker.

"We've heard it all before, with all the other 'incurable' diseases."

"Wait a second. You get them, every day?"

"Yeah. There was already one here early this morning. Must have gotten stuck late last night."

Her heart stopped. She had pushed Sophia down into the creek, but she thought her head had smashed onto the hard ground. But what if she was stuck in the creek? What if she was in Hershel's barn, right now?

"Oh my God."

* * *

**AN:**Well, there's not much to say except I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm sorry it's shorter than the last one! Please let me know what you think:)


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